ake the green grass grow all around all around. ♪ ♪ make the green grass grow all around. ♪ at jpmorganchase, the investments we make help make businesses happen, that make jobs happen, that make communities happen. together, we make momentum happen. >> they're standing in the way of closing the border. if they're standing in the way of building a wall, if they're standing in the way of deporting

criminal illegal aliens, they're going to get their butts whooped. >> i think santa's already are come. look at the performance for the year, it's been really spectacular. i'm not necessarily surprised that we see kind of this churning right here. >> if we can control our spending, cut our spending and grow our revenues through this economic boom that is coming with a.i., then we can do something about our debt. >> when there was the populist wave when trump came into power, they began to embrace it unlike the democrats who pushed away bernie sanders and that entire wing of their party. >> there's an unreported civil war in the democratic party right now. >> we can costuart's age,. 070. there you go. your age. 29, right? [laughter] and then my age, 30. ♪ ♪ ashley: just a little touch of

hawaii. the late, great jimmy buffett as you look at mid iftown manhattan. a few people on the streets there, but it's christmas week. it's quiet. and i hope to you all at home are enjoying it. it is 11 a.m. on the east coast on this friday, december the 27th. i'm ashley webster in today for stu varney. let's check these markets, down on the dow now, 383 points. we're still, i believe, yep, we're still positive for the week on the dow. s&p down 1.25%, the nasdaq down nearly 2% but having said all of that, all three major indices are still higher for this christmas week. the big tech names are actually leading us lower today. they're leading the stocks lower, you could say. all of the big ones are down, apple, alphabet, microsoft, amazon, nvidia. nvidia down nearly 3%, amazon down 2.33%. and take a quick look at the 10-year treasury yield.

this always kind of gives us a clue of how equities are doing, and sure enough it's right there at 4.59%, up nearly 1 basis point. that is a headwind for stocks as well. all right, now this, according to new polling only 39% of americans approve of how joe biden is handling his presidency. if i want to know who the 39% are. 20% believe the government is the biggest problem facing the country today. behind that is immigration and the economy. jon levine joins me now. jon, the question here is what's the problem with our government. my answer to that would be, where do i begin? but what say you? >> that's a very, very big question. i don't know if we have time for it here today. [laughter] these are not new numbers for joe biden. we've been here before. he hasn't had an approval if rating above 50% since, i believe, july 20 to 21. so really, you know, this is more of the same. who even knows if he's aware of the latest polling, to be frank.

of he's going out with a whisper and he'll obviously not be remembered as a poor president, but i think really he might not be remembered very much at all. going out like a whisper, much like the man himself. ashley: we spoke to someone earlier who said there's a civil war going on within the democratic party as to where do they go from here? they are in disarray, i would say. >> anytime there's a major collapse, what we just experienced, there's going to be soul searching, an autopsy and, look, different wings and factions that fight for sor sor. what was the lesson we were supposed to learn. do we embrace the squad, do we embrace hamas and the palestinians? these are questions the democrats are going to have the work out, and someone's going to win in these fights. it is very important. ashley: it is, indeed. i want to move on to to other subjects. new york governor kathy hochul, she put the brakes on an mta plan to basically hike the price

of manhattan's congestion toll by 25%. look, we saw this happen with the original congestion pricing plan. if what's the chances of her sneaking this back in at a later date? >> i mean, it's high. obviously, we passed congestion pricing. she was going to do it and then she put it on hold indefinitely during the midterm election because she wanted to protect vulnerable democrats in westchester and long island. after the elections are over, it's back on the table. this is probably just another bit and switch. and part -- bait and switch. it's very fundamental to the democratic party in new york to expand government into all reaches of life, and that costs money. and the only way you get it is by taxing people more. now, they can't just outright raise income taxes on new yorkers anymore because it's too crazy. what they do is they find these other ways to get you. so con to discretion pricing, or they'll -- congestion pricing. i don't know what the next one will be, but they always find

these secondary ways to get you. the in the last census, we lost one member of congress. it'll probably be similarly brutal next time, people are leaving the state because the cost to living is too high. and what do you get for the services? all the subways smell like piss. ashley: yeah, i know. i've always wondered, having lived this there for quite some time, the roads are terrible, the potholes just, you know, are outrageous. you always wonder where the heck the does all this money go? >> you think it must be like a singapore-style, you know, corporate, municipal disneyland. no, it's not. it's terrible. [laughter] there's migrants running around sleeping on the state, potholes, and the police do nothing. it's not a good situation at all. ashley: it's insanity. jon, you have a great broadcasting voice, by the way. i'm i'm sorry i've never told you that before. i love it. thank you very much.

let's check the markets and bring in lou basenese who also has a lovely voice. [laughter] lou, you're here for the hour, so don't overuse the voice too much here. >> i'll try not to. ashley: let's talk about the market. will the bull market continue into 2025? i mean, there has been a little bit of caution. >> yeah, absolutely. no one should be crying in their leftover eggnog because stocks aren't up today. [laughter] we've had an impressive run, and we're going to have9 another one in 2025, and i'm going to tell you why i'm is so convicted of that. everyone tries to make the marks complicated. it's not. if earnings keep rising, stock prices keep rising, and all the forecasts for next year see earnings growing at 15% for the s&p 500, and more importantly, it's not just the mag 7. you have the unmagnificent 493 are going to grow earnings by about 13%, and that's up from 4% this year. you're seeing an acceleration in profit growth. that is going to drive stock prices higher. if you look at the chart, there's a very strong correlation over time throughout

the history of the markets. if earnings go up, so does the s&p 500. ashley: well, first off, i can tell you there's no left orr eggnog in this household. that's a crime. secondly, what are the best sectors? having said what you said, what do you think are the best sectors to look for next year? >> yeah. look, i think it's going to be another tech-led year, but you're going to see it rotate into the smaller ask and cry crow -- micro caps. more importantly, i think you've got the look at the laggards because today's laggards can become tomorrow's leaders, and that points to energy and the earlies sectors. they've been left for -- left for dead. the energy sector is going to the rally regardless what happens with oil prices. i think you're going to see growing global tensions which are going to push oil prices higher. but at the same time, we're going to have more abundant supplies here, so that's going to be boom times for a lot of

american-based energy companies. ashley: you know what, lou? if fed isn't going to be as accommodative, i don't think, as everyone thought they would be. inflation sticky. could that be a fly in the ointment? >> i think it can, but we've seen this coming. investors have been very reluctant, jerome powell is the rodney danger cannerfield of finance. he gets no respect, but he telegraphs whattest -- what he's going to do, and then investors are surprise. we've known this is coming. the data points to a much stickier inflation than expected. investors have to adjust to that. instead of three, four, five rate cuts like they expected in 2025, maybe one or two. it's going to be data-dependent. again, relative, 4-5% interest rates are really normal. we got spoiled on 0% and 1 and 2%. ashley: you're right. couldn't agree more. all that cheap money sloshing about. it was good times, but they can't last forever if k and that's the case. lou, thank you so much for that. stay right where you are. i want to get into this story now, major tech companies are

pouring massive amounts of money into building a.i. data centers. how much money are we talking about, madison? >> we're talking about $218 billion in 2024 alone. that's the dollars being spent by microsoft, meta, alphabet and amazon all on artificial intelligence. that's because a.i. needs a lot of infrastructure and power, getting back to the lou's point with energy. and this is spent -- the has really feud spending in real estate, building materials, semiconductors and that energy. data centers require as much power as a small city, and we're only going to see more of them. we have seen an increase in spending of about $140 billion -- from about $140 billion last year to $218 billion this year. tens of billions of dollars in just one year. and there's no signs of a pullback for that spending in 2025. ashley: no. those data certains are needed, that's for sure. all right, madison, thank you very much.

coming up, tom homan says half away houses for the u.s.-born children of illegal migrants might be necessary for trump's deportation plans, but does that create a pr nightmare? if border sheriff mark dannels will be here to take that on. good news, the university of michigan is considering dismantling its dei programs. the bad news? they still want to force students to attend a workshop on recognizing racism. i know david webb has something to say about that. we'll talk to him. and vladimir putin says he's ready to talk to trump about a possible peace deal with ukraine. putin also says he's prepared to make compromises to end the war. it certainly sounds promising. i'm going to put it to former state department official christian whiton coming up next. ♪ if. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ ashley: vladimir putin claims he would be ready to talk to donald trump, and he's prepared to make compromises to end the war in ukraine. it all sounds very promising. department -- former sate department official christian whiton joins me now. christian, i mean, is this something to be believed? what are the chances, do you think, for a peace deal? >> sort of two separate questions. i think putin is certainly willing to meet with trump. he met with trump, believe, twice during trump one. the problem is there's always a lot of hysteria around these summits, and also presidents don't really hash out peace deals. the last one who tried 106 years ago this month woodrow wilson went to paris and spent six months working on the versailles treaty. terrible treaty, incidentally. and you're going to probably have a situation where presidents can push a deal

across the finish line or hammer out some broad point, but a lot has to be settled before you get a deal like who's going to pay for the defense of ukraine if it's not going to be part of nato which russia won't accept, are the europeans going to pony up. and the russians who are actually gaining ground, are they really willing the set the lines right where they are now? ashley: you know, according to ukraine's military intelligence, north korean troops are suffering some heavy losses fighting in russia's kursk region. all of this, they seem to be at a standstill, although some of the more recent reports, christian, seems to indicate russia is making some progress. are we still basically at a stalemate? >> no, russia is making some slow but steady progress not so much in kursk where ukraine has forced a salient into ukraine, but down around the south. the north korea report is interesting. i worked on north korean human rights, and a lot of us wondered if the north koreans actually suck at fighting despite having

a very large military. they haven't fought since 1953 at the end of the korean war, and even by then macarthur had pretty much fished off the north koreans, and it was the -- finished off the north koreans, and it was the chinese we were finding. they have all these generals with medals running down their pants having accomplished nothing in combat. it's an interesting point of note as we look at this emerging alliance of china, russia, north korea, iran, some of these people might not be that good on the battlefield. ashley: fascinating. and talking about alliance, russia's ambassador says china's president, xi jinping, will visit russia next year. is and apparently, you know, russia says there's no limits to our partnership with china. what does this mean for us and our allies? >> this has been a problem, and one of the downsides that's not appreciated, it's very hard to reverse at this point, that our treatment with russia, which may have been justified by russia's actions although some of us have

argued that we have less interests on the line are in ukraine than some would have led to believe, but that we've been pushing russia into china's arms. there's still a lot of distrust that goes back hundreds and even thousands of years, but i the more these countries get together, the more it's likely that international trade finds alternatives to the u.s. dollar which could raise the cost of capital for us, that giant national debt. and it could lead to increased gas exports particularly from russia to china. now, china's not dumb enough to become completely dependent on russia. they know where that leads but, yes, you're going to see a summit. it's going to be all smiles and sunshine and bunnies, and it is sort of dangerous for the u.s. if there's this eurasian condominium of power aligned against us. ashley: you know, what does donald trump bring to the table in comparison to joe biden when we're talking about trying to get these countries, you know, to come to the table and

negotiate is he a lot more effective? if are you expecting him to be a lot more effective? >> i think so, especially in -- outside of the mill military sphere. trump isn't afraid to use the military, but he didn't that much except against isis. that cuts both ways. if he -- and i don't think biden would have ever cut a deal with the russians. if we're going to cut a keel, let's cut a deal and drop sanctions on russia. let's not try and and get half pregnant. that'll cut the price of energy for americans while trump and his administration try to add 3 million if barrels per day more of energy production. and also let's use economic warfare against china which is very dependent on its exports to us. so i think that sort of carrot-stick approach and holistic view of national power will be beneficial. ashley: as always, fascinating to the follow, and thank you again for your expertise this morning. christian whiton, thank you, sir, for joining us. >> thank you, ashley.

ashley: thank you. pictures of a new chinese war plane if have flooded social media causing a bit of a stir. madison, what do we know about it? >> ash, at this point we don't know much. what we do know is pretty much from these videos what we can see with our own eyes. taking a look at those images, you're seeing a delta wing-style aircraft, it means those triangle-shaped wings. and there is a cockpit which means these new planes do have a pilot. and when it comes to this design, it's usually reserved for stealth-type planes. aviation week is reporting the landing gear has, quote, the hallmark of heavy fighter bombers, so this is a fighting plane, heavy bombers. russian officials are calling this plane the, or quote, white emperor. this is reigniting concerns that china may be passing us, the u.s., in air superiority. trump has been very vocal about our weakened military and, of course, he retakes the white house in just 23 days, so we'll see if he has anything to say about this new plane.

but it just reignites those concerns when it comes to our military, our air force versus that in china. ashley: yes, it do does, indeed. madison, thank you. let's get a quick check of the cryptocurrencies. lou basenese with us for the hour. lou, the cryptos and bitcoin in particular a off their all-time highs and really struggling to get back to that 100,000 mark again. has the surge sort of fizzled out, or was this typical volatility that we can expect into next year? >> i think it's twofold, it's tipple call volatility -- typical volatility, but i think this more than anything is really buy the news -- buy the rumor, sell the news phenomenon where there was so much enthusiasm leading up to president-elect trump's appointments of cabinet members that were pro-crypto that you saw all of the cryptocurrencies rallying, even the ones that have no fundamental value, in my opinion. it's expected for them to cool off, some profit taking. i think they'll see renewed interest in the new year when

you start seeing actual policies go into action. that will drive these prices higher. ashley: are you a big fan, lou, of bitcoin? >> i would be lying if i said that i am. i'm still -- it's a fascination. it's limited supply, it's a greater fool theory at work for me, but the underpinning technology, the distributive ledger, is what's most interesting to me. i think that will become useful. right now if i just don't see a killer appetite for bitcoin or crypto. ashley: i admire the honesty. thank you, lou. coming up, a number of sanctuary states get millions of collars in federal funding to keep criminal illegal migrants behind bars. trump is threatening to pull that funding since they're not locking them up anyway. kind of makes sense. we'll have that story. and the agency at the strait department that was accused of censoring americans just shut its doors. sounds like a win for free speech, for sure. david webb will be here to sound off on it next. many. ♪ ♪

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ashley: as we see the markets move lower on this last trading day of the christmas week, lou basenese is back with us. lou, you have some stock picks

with us. let's begin with alphabet, big name. >> yeah. earlier in the show i mentioned the mag 7 could run up against headwinds, but right now if you look at the stocks,, the group as a whole, alphabet is really lagging, trading as much as 25-30 times earnings. for the others, i think there's some nervous' concern that they're going to be broken up because of antitrust or somehow fall behind in the a.i. race. i don't think those are well founded whatsoever. i think big tech the has coaz citied -- cozied up to president-elect trump, so i don't think there's any threat of google being broken occupy -- up. large language models are based on big data set, and there's no company that has a bigger data set than google. ashley: that's very true. want to move on to this, a cybersecurity etf appropriately called hack. >> yeah. i like this as probably a forever growth trend, our need to to prevent cyber criminal

activity, right? we're looking at it right now. warfare in the modern every rah is going to be fought more on the digital landscape. we're seeing that play out in you should shah and ukraine as you saw a huge cyber attack on state registries. that's only going to increase. unfortunately, we've criminally underinvested as countries, companies and investors in cybersecurity, and we're always playing catch-up. this is a trend that has a lot of legs. there's no silver bullet solution, so you have to play it with an etf that gives you a portfolio of the leading cybersecurity names that come on to the scene each year. ashley: very good. love it. lou, thank you very much. now this, president biden arrived in st. croix for his final vacation as president. he and his family are reportedly staying at a massive beachfront villa are completely for free, by way. lucas tomlinson has the tough job of being in st. croix for us. lucas, good morning.

are there ethics concerns about the president's trip? >> reporter: well, good morning, ashley. there are some ethics concerns that have been raised by some critics of president biden. as you mentioned, he did arrive here yesterday in what many people are accuse the president of doing is trump-proofing his administration ahead of the transfer of power on january 20th. of course, that also includes his environmental protection agency spending some $1.6 billion in what they're calling environmental justice money money to coz thens of recipients, and president biden himself said in a speech in washington earlier this month that he does not want to see any of his green energy projects canceled and also some of these big plants that are being built in republican-held states. >> will the next president stop a new electric battery factory in liberty, north carolina, that creates thousands of jobs is? will he shut down a new solar factory being built in carterville, georgia? are they going to do that? >> reporter: now,

president-elect donald trump has vowed to boost fossil fuel production, of course, ashley and wants to roadway new lnb -- renew lng exports. the biden administration put a hold on those new licenses at is year, also granting california a waiver to enforce its ban on the sale of new gasoline-powered cars mt. truck -- and trucks in the state by 2035. the administration is expected to grant such a waiver to california as well as 11 other states. now, president biden and the first lady arrived here in st. croix yesterday, the childhood home of alexander hamilton, ashley, arguably one of our greatest founding fathers. they are likely staying at the home of bill and connie neville. the white house hasn't confirmed that, but i it is the the home what he's stayed the past two christmas vacations here in st. croix. he's also taking heat for vetoing a bill that would have had 66 new federal judgeships in a sign he wants to deny the

incoming trump white house from making those judicial appointments. he's going to be huddling with his national security team after that friendly fire incident early sunday in the red sea when a u.s. guided missile cruiser shot down an f-18 super hornet. thankfully, the pilot and the backseat weapons system officer ejected safely and recovered. but it's notable, ashley, there have not been any more strikes against the houthi rebels in yemen since that incident. ash? ashley: all right. lucas, thank you very much for that very thorough report. now this, the state department's global engagement center which was accused of censoring u.s. citizens has shut its doors because of lack of money. elon musk had deemed the gec the worst offender in u.s. government censorship and media manipulation. david webb joins me now. i know david wants to jump in on this. david, is this the the beginning, perhaps, of some

government agencies being terminated? >> yes, it is. and, you know, it's glad -- you know, it's nice to see president jill biden and her husband take a vacation -- [laughter] we're supposed the believe they're going to meet with their national security team. let's not buy that anymore, folks. let's get ready to move on. look, think about 61 million, what could be done with that at the state department rather than keeping 120 people who are literally in the business of cutting the first amendment, of making sure that they define misinformation and disinformation or anything that the leftist woke agenda doesn't like. it's just the beginning. these are the the low hanging fruit. but the problem is, these are rotten foot in our federal government, and they -- fruit in our federal government, and they need to be gone. you know what? merry christmas, you didn't wrong here in the first place, time for you to go. [laughter] ashley: are you hopeful that

doge can really make a difference, david? you know, they can't -- they need congressional approval. the republicans have a razor thin majority in the house. how, how hopeful are you that something meaningful can be achieved when it comes to eliminating government waste? >> very and i'll tell you why, and it's outlined again in a november '20 the -- november 20 article by elon and vivek in our sister the publication, the "wall street journal." there is executive ability here with impoundment. there's congressional ability with rescission. there are other things. there are also supreme court decisions that have set the precedent for breaking apart these agencies. and there are some challenges that will come up, obviously. but the fact is this doesn't all require congress as much as it requires cooperation from congress. and i don't want to hear the republicans no to matter what side of this they come down on, and there are differences in the

party, argue about cutting spending, cleaning things up. the republicans have the majority. don't cry to the american people who ghei it to you that you to can't -- who gave it to you that you can't come together and help make government more limited, more efficient, more effective and more constitutional. if you can't do that, then go join the democrats. ashley: yeah. because the man from voters is remarkably clear. i just want to get this one in for you, david. the university of michigan is hosting a workshop to teach graduate students how to recognize racism in everyday life. why are universities so focused on pushing dei and this woke ideology? >> because they're just trying to reimagine the next generation of this grift. i looked it up when i got the topics, ashley, and from 2020 til now i tracked the money. when companies are charging minimum $50,000, $300,000, millions of dollars, cottage industries are built up to create this and you add that to

the ideology, you have both the ideology and a grift working together at a cost to these companies. so they're trying to reimagine it. the fact is in the united states of america we don't have social acceptance, and and we don't have codified law in this country that says racism is okay. those two things must exist -- ashley: right. >> -- and they don't. is so this grift has to end, these race pimps, these poverty pimps have to go. enough. dering i and this fake equity is the new form of racism by pushing one group down, mostly whites, in favor of black and brown people, well, i don't need your help. i've done fine on my own in america -- ashley: we hear you, david. >> tens of millions if,s hundreds of millions of americans, and we'll do better when you're gone and when companies are working better together. ashley: right. wow. well, we leave are it e on that note, david webb. thank you so much, david, as

always, for your input today. we always appreciate it. >> great to see you, ash. >> coming up -- good to see you too. waymo dominated the self-driving tech industry this year, but could someone else be coming for the crown? we're going to tell you where potential competitors stand. and an official from guatemala reportedly said his country is open to accepting some of the deportees from the united states. border sheriff mark dannels tells us how much of a boon this is for donald trump's plans, next. ♪

ashley: all right, let's take a look at the biggest losers on the nasdaq. it is the big tech names that have been leading stocks lower. tesla down 3.5% at this hour. crowdstrike, nscaler, netflix

down 2.5%. just to give you an idea. now this, the incoming trump administration has plans to potentially take away hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding from sanctuary states. william la jeunesse if joins us this morning and, william, how would they be able to do this? >> reporter: well, ashley, what the courts have generally held is you can withhold or cut one -- money when it's related to a specific program. you can't take highway money because you don't like how i spend my medicaid dollars. we've heard about president trump against sanctuary city, but what most people have not heard about are these programs that are specifically funding sanctuary states and cities with your tax dollars to incarcerate criminal aliens. and yet when i.c.e. asks for basic information or to honor a detainer on those inmates, they refuse which is why those cities could lose millions under

president trump. in this program is called scout, the skate criminal alien assistance program that sends $234 million to, among others, sanctuary states like california, illinois and others. also, not to mention, there are a dozen counties within those jurisdictions getting more than a million dollars each including san diego which recently embraced its sanctuary status. >> we need sand wray go county to stop using county resources to deport our community members. >> i.c.e. doesn't belong in our communities. leave that in mar lag bow. >> reporter: but that's a problem for the trump team which is vowing to go with after criminal aliens. immigration police -- not to use them to comb schools and worksite, but to allow i.c.e. to see illegal immigrants inside the state and county jails. >> state and local law enforcement agencies ought to be allowed to cooperate with

federal law enforcement agencies for any reason and shouldn't be blocked from doing that. it is literally against federal law for a state or local government to tell jail officers that they cannot communicate with i.c.e. >> reporter: so scaap is one of three doj programs that president trump could effectively withhold that money to make these sanctuary cities cooperate with i.c.e. or cut the funding altogether. back to you. ashley: all right. william la jeunesse, thank you very much for that. now this, guatemala is reportedly open to receiving citizens of other central american nations who are deported from the united states. the sheriff of cocheese county, arizona, mark dannels joins me now. sheriff, seems to me like guatemala is looking to build a positive relationship, if you will, with the incoming administration. do you buy it? >> hello, ashley.

i do buy it. one thing president trump's doing is he's building partnerships with local law enforcement, sheriffs, governors, those that want to protect their communities. he's doing it with foreign countries too like guatemala. they need to be a part of the plan, or there will be consequences. this is all about protecting this country, our community and our citizens, ashley. ashley: you know, i want to get into this issue, sheriff. the incoming border czar, tom homan, says halfway homes for children of illegal migrants may be a necessary part of the plans for mass deportations. of course, we know the left will be apoplectic about that if they see families attorney about, kids thrown into so-called halfway houses. that could be difficult from a pr standpoint. what do you make of it? enter well, it's part of the process, ashley. and here is the thing, president trump did not put these kids in that position. this current add administration,

president biden, did. thom hohmann, who -- tom homan, who's a friend of mine, also is is very humanitarian. i guarantee to you the fact that he is not going to -- the way he's setting that center up is to help children and reunite them back to their families. ashley: you know, sheriff, we talk a lot over the years since we've seen this influx at the border that the morale among those who are charged with trying to to, you know, maintain some sort of calm on the border has been very low. do you feel like things are changeing, a little more optimistic now i that we have a new administration coming in? >> well, ash, i'm glad you're asking me that question because my border patrol agents that i work with, our federal agents, our sheriffs around the country, we are ecstatic and they are too at the fact that we have engagement, number one, working together -- state, local and federal -- to protect this country. i have yet to hear a border patrol agent say under the current administration that it's

working. what i'm hearing now is they're excited to get to do the job that they were hired to do, and that's protect the community and our borders. yes, they're excited. ashley: and very quickly, sheriff, we were told that there was concerns about a last minute surge, if you like, right at the end of the biden administration. have you seen that? >> we have, ashley. sadly, it has not stopped. the cartels are not going to stop. it's a business. they're making millions of dollars. they're going to keep coming. what they're against now is a president that's going to oppose them and go after them. yes, they know what they're up i against, and i'm glad president trump is going to go after them. ashley: i'm looking toward to seeing how it works out. sheriff, thank you so much, sir, for taking the time to talk to us. we always appreciate it. >> thank you, ashley. thank you. happy new year. ashley: thank you. same to you, sir. let's see the split, if we can, of winners and losers on the dow 30. look at that -- [laughter] 28 losers, 2 winners. the 2 two on the upside, chevron

and boeing, and the rest are moving lower. right down there at the bottom there, amazon and nvidia. there you have it. the dow itself down 389 points or thereabouts. millions of americans, as we know, returning home after the holidays, but guess what? bad weather, delays and heavy traffic could make even a simple trip back home take a lot longer than anticipated. we'll have all the latest details from dallas/fort worth international airport. it's crowded. next. ♪ a whole new world -- ♪ to go further, you need to be ready for what's down the road. as energy demand continues to rise, we're harnessing breakthrough innovations to increase production in the u.s. gulf of mexico. our latest deepwater development, anchor, produces previously inaccessible oil and natural gas,

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ashley: self-driving robotaxis are gaining a lot of attention this year. madison, waymo has kind of been seen as the king of self-driving. are there any competitors on the rise? >> ashley, there sure are. and with this competition, the u.s. has never been closer to a driverless future. so is waymo really is the furthest along, but tesla and amazon's zooks are following close behind. taking a look, the global ride-share market is set to to grow from $123 billion today to

$480 billion by 2032. looking at the leader, waymo, it's completed more than 5 million autonomous if rides since 2016. they now operate in phoenix, san francisco and los angeles covering more than 500 square miles of public roads. so drivers there are already sharing the road with these driverless vehicles. tesla, they have not yet delivered on their robotaxi, their driverless car, but we got a look at it this year. musk is promising production by 2027. and he's saying that the price is going to be under $30,000. and then zooks, what a great name. in february they got permits allowing them to carry members of the public in their autonomous vehicles in foster city, california. the company was acquired by amazon in 2020 the for $1. 3 billion, and they have a really unique self-driving shuttle. it has no steering wheel at all and no driver's seat. so, ash, i live in new york. we don't have driverless vehicles here yet, but i want to

know how you take in a driverless car, and if you haven't, are you open to taking one? ashley: i am open to one, no, i haven't yet. i look forward to it. i think it's a great thing. thank you very much, madison. millions of americans getting ready the hit the highways and head to the airports for their journeys back home after the holidays. brooke taylor is at the dallas/fort worth international airport this morning and, brooke, should people be prepared for long delays? >> reporter: yeah, they certainly should. we are here at the dallas/fort worth airport, and security lines, they are around the corner here no matter where you go. you know, it's time to go back to work, back to reality and that weather really not cooperating with us and making things easy for travelers. thunderstorms on thursday, they caused major ground delays in dallas leading to hundreds of delays and cancellations. we're still feeling the effects of that right now. storms in the south and the west

also threatening trips. right here in texas, governor greg abbott activated the state emergency response plan ahead of more severe weather. we'll take you to our misery map right now. there's more than 2800 delays so, yes, to answer your question, you could probably expect those delays. 91 cancellations, the cancellations aren't that bad, within flights within the u.s. the airports having the most issues, here in dallas, as i mentioned, houston, atlanta, chicago and jfk. as you can imagine, travelers are frustrated because of these delays. take a listen. >> -- canceled completely which i know other flights have been canceled. annoy the family a little lit -- little bit more. [laughter] another day here wouldn't be that bad. >> it's very frustrating. we've been looking forward to this as a nice little vacation and time off from our work, and now our vacation is cut a couple days short. >> reporter: and the airlines

who are seeing the most issues right now, american airlines and also airlines which is really no surprise because both are dallas-based and again, as i mentioned, having those issues catching up with yesterday's issues right now, ashley. ashley: brooke, thank you very much. thankfully, i'm not one of those people trying to travel. thank you, brooke. it's time now for the friday trivia question. how many candy keynes are produced each year -- candy canes? if you think it's a lot, you're right. 1.56 billion, 1.76, 1.96 or 2.16 billion? how on earth would anyone know? it's your best guess. we'll have the answer when we get back. ♪ ♪ if since 2019, john deere has invested more than $2 billion in our american factories. today, we're nearly 30,000 u.s. employees strong.

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ashley: how many candy canes are produced each year? madison: i will go 1.96. ashley: i will go the other way, one. 56 billion. the answer is one hundred. 76 billion. we are all wrong. thank you. that's it for "varney and company". fox business live with edward lawrence, take away.